Enzo Maresca has just had his press conference ahead of Chelsea’s game against Aston Villa tomorrow, and the manager was in defiant form.
The first questions, as always are about injuries and fitness, and unfortunately for Maresca there was no good news to deliver:
“Fortunately, we don’t have any additional injuries. Noni will probably be out until the international break. The rest: Nico[las Jackson is] out, Wes[ley Fofana is] out, Benoit [Badiashile is] out, Romeo [Lavia is] out, Marc Guiu [is ]out,” the coach revealed.
It’s certainly looking on the bright side to say that it’s “fortunate” that there are no new injuries rather than focusing on the 6 player who ARE out. But that’s the kind of attitude we want. It’s now almost two full weeks since the coach found out his two strikers were out for some time, and he’s had plenty of time to work on a solution.
Chelsea risk losing more ground in top 4 race before injured stars return
Losing Madueke really compounds the loss of both strikers as he’s an important goal threat in this team. Maresca was pushed for more details on when the winger, who went down holding his hamstring against Brighton, would be back:
“Probably after the international break we can have most of the injuries back, hopefully all of them. For us, this can be a big boost.”
The question is what state the team will be in when those injured players are back. Results are sliding horribly, and there are still 4 games to play before that break. Still, negativity won’t bring those players back any sooner, and we like to see a positive attitude from the manager which will hopefully transmit to those player who are fit that they can go and win these games and stay in the race.
This squad is talented but some of them gone and some are injured . And some are not receiving a good treatment . Mostly some players are not giving chance to play for regular minutes and and the system and tactics weren’t good enough . As I said no defence and no adjustments. Caceido and Enzo needs help in central midfield . Good luck on Saturday and I wish CFC will get 3 points at all cost . Vamos …. Mission impossible .